February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The man thought that the body was that of a child.
She stood at just four feet eleven inches tall and weighed 103 pounds.
Long Island detectives originally speculated that Parisi was possibly an Irish immigrant or au pair, but there is still belief that she was Irish American. Parisi was from Mastic Beach, Long Island, about an hour and a half from where she was found in Sands Point.
The Irish leads in the case stem from the woman’s physical appearance and the fact that she was wearing a Claddagh ring.
Her body, which was fully clothed but did not carry any identification, was lying in bushes close to a tree-lined laneway in what is one of the Island’s wealthiest towns.
Parisi was 24, and a preliminary examination indicated that she may have given birth at some point in her short life.
Investigators believe that she was murdered at another location and later dumped in Sands Point, which abuts Long Island Sound on a stretch of the island known as the Gold Coast.
Her body showed signs that she had been bludgeoned to death. There were cuts and bruises on her face, which was freckled. But there was no evidence of sexual assault.
Parisi had complexion was very fair and her hair light brown to strawberry blonde, according to police who released an artist’s sketch of the victim’s face in the hope that it might lead to a breakthrough in the investigation.
“We’re taking calls on Crimestoppers and following through on every lead,” Nassau County police spokesman, Lieutenant Kevin Smith, told the Echo earlier in the investigation.
The investigation is being led by Detective Lieutenant Dennis Farrell, head of the Nassau County Homicide Squad.
Parisi was wearing pink joggers or warm up pants and a top with the inscription “Love is … patching things up.” She was not wearing shoes and had just one sock on.
At the time the body was found, there had been no missing person report filed in the tri-state area that matched the grim discovery.
Police said that the woman appeared well groomed and did not appear to be either homeless or a drug abuser.
She had a blue daisy and smiley face tattoo on her right hip which was described in a Daily News report as “crude.’
But while the tattoo was not expertly applied, it is the rings the woman was wearing wore on her left hand that have been the main reason as to why police think she may have been Irish American.
A ring on the small finger of her left hand had an inscribed letter ‘E’ with hearts surrounding it.
The Claddagh ring on her middle finger had the crown and hands clasped around the heart turned inwards suggesting a relationship.
Her ring finger, however, did not have a ring on it, which indicated that she probably was not married.
Sands Point is the setting that is said to have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald when he wrote “The Great Gatsby.” Parisi’s body was found only a few hundred yards from Lands End, which is said to be the inspiration for Daisy Buchanan’s estate in the famed novel.